The Hungarian community of Arad commemorated former mayor Gyula Salacz and actor Pál Jávor on the 31st of January. Gyula Salacz was mayor for 26 years (1875-1901). He strongly contributed towards the economic revitalisation of the economy and the preservation of its cultural values. The Hungarian community of Arad also remembered actor Pál Jávor, imprisoned in 1944 for refusing to give out his Jewish wife’s whereabouts.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide the European Parliament urged Turkey and Armenia to reconcile their differences. During the Brussels mini-plenary session on the 15th of April the MEPs honoured the memory of the 1.5 million innocent Armenians who fell victims of the genocide in the Ottoman Empire, and adopted a resolution urging the two nations to truthfully reconcile.

The revolution of 1956 demonstrates the Hungarian nation’s love for freedom and opposition to foreign oppression. For us, Hungarians living in the Carpathian Basin, it is also represents a day of solidarity and of standing up for our rights.

At the initiative of Edit Bauer and Alajos Mészáros, Hungarian MEPs from Slovakia, this year too, members of the Hungarian EPP delegation paid their respects at the Sándor Petőfi memorial column in Strasbourg.The column, erected in 1990, is the common achievement of the Alsatian city that is home to the EP and of the French-Hungarian Friendship Society.